Maman,
Comment va la meilleure mère du monde entière? Yeah, we had two
baptisms this last saturday. It was a great baptismal service. It
was the first one ever at Cococodji and we had 7 people who got
baptized. It was awesome to see because 4 were from the same family.
They have been coming to church for a few months now, but couldn't get
baptized because they need to get married first. So they got married
on Friday and baptized on Saturday, and confirmed on Sunday. How
awesome is that?
ok... missionary advice... ok well that was maybe one of the hardest thing
at the beginning of my mission. We would teach people who would love
talking to us but they would never come to church. And since they
never came to church they couldn't progress. So I learned that we had
to be a little direct with those people and explain to them why we
were really here. Many people think that we are like the evanqlic
churches who are there just to spread the "good news" but they don't
understand that our message is actually different. That in fact we
are there to help they make ordiances and come back to christ through
his restored authority. So often, when people don't progress, we
explain to them our missionary objectif, or c'est à dire the reason
why we come and teach them. Often time i find that that helps people
hold commitment better. And if that doesn't work we usually have to
leave them a lone for a while and teach people we are ready right now.
I have to admit that that is one of the hardest parts of the mission
when people don't progress. It probably one of the things that hurts
the worst. Beacause i want them to progress, but they don't want to
progress. Also i found that praying helps a lot. It seems
to help me.
It sounds like carli did great this week. That is crazy that it was
only 38 degrees considering here it is around 85. Yeah that is crazy
to think that casey and i speak the same language but are in two
cultures totally different.
One of my favorite christlike atributes is serving and loving i guess.
I think i could always be a little more patient. It is probably one
thing i could always work on.
1. Do you eat the same kinds of food in your new secteur?
I notice that i tend to get more traditional foods here. haha. I
have now gotten to the point where i can make pate. So prepare a lot
of cornflour when i get home and we'll have a pate party haha. It is
pretty wierd now, when people ask me if i want pate , rice,or
speghatti i usually choose pate haha. I guess i'll have to adjust
when i get home. Also lately i have been eating more gari. Which i'm
not sure how to explain. But it is pretty good.
2. Do you teach mostly in French? Or in native? if so, how since there are not many members? We teach mostly in french. Most people we teach have at least a
basic understanding of french. Most of them speak really well.
Although sometimes we do teach people who don't speak french. That is
when we ask a member to translate. And if there isn't a member we ask
one of the kids to translate. Although, the last option isn't the
best because sometimes the kids translate weirdly.
3. How do you figure out where people live since I'm guessing there are no street signs? Yeah, here in Benin there are no street signs. There are in Togo
but no one uses them. haha. So often they indicate to us something
that is close to where they live usually a school, a hotel, a
bar/restuarant, or a pharamice. Then when we get there we call them
and they come and show us where there house is. It works pretty well.
4. We saw a tv show on a pro cyclist team from africa, do people ride bikes in benin? Are they road bikes or mtn with dirt roads? I don't see a lot of bike riders. A lot of people do ride motorcycles though. I have seen a few cyclist, but none that looked
very serious. I have mostly seen road bikes.
5. Did you get to see the wedding? Tell us all about it...We did get to go to the wedding. My companion knew two of the
couples well so we got to go. It was super fun as usual. There were
4 couples who got married. Two of the couples were already members of
the church and the two grooms happened to be brothers. Then there was
one couple who were investigators who then got baptized the next day.
And the other couple was from another church. But they said they were
intrested in talking with the missionaries. Cool huh? It was pretty
fun. Most of the service was done in Fon so i didn't understand
anything but thats ok. haha. I did take some pictures though so that
was great. The cermony mostly goes as follows the mayor of hèvie
talks to the couples about the marriage laws of benin(like the fact
that plural marriage was discontinued in 2006 i believe), then the
mayor asked the couple and the witness if they are in accordance with
the wedding. Then there is the exchange of rings and the exchange of
vows probably my favorite part. Then the mayor talks so more and then
we take pictures. It is pretty simple and sweet. Also usually the
couples come in some pretty sweet traditional african clothes so that
is also great too.
6.Going to send a package this next month for xmas (that's crazy!) any requests???I have to admit we ahve loved the drink mixes. But nothing
particular comes to mind. I let you know if i come up with something.
Well, sorry that this letter has kind of been a long one. I thought i
tell quand même about a guy that we have recently started teaching.
We recieved his contact from some other missionaries who told us he
was really intrested. When we went to his house he explained to us
that he lost his job a few months ago because he was fasely acussed of
stealing. So since then he goes out everyday looking for work but
often doesn't find any. He has started selling many things he owns to
pay for things. But then he said something that really he touched me.
He said that he knows with christ ça peut aller. or in other word
that if he has faith in christ all will work out . It was amazing to
see how strange his faith was. He told us that he believe with our
message things will all work out. We explained the first lesson and
he told us that he already believe in joseph smith because of what the
other missionaries have said and by the brouchure. He is pretty cool
guy. I really hope things will improve for him.
WEll mom, i love you a ton. Thanks for your great example. I LOve you more than pie,
Elder Corey Kimzey
Hey Dad,
Things are going great here. How about there? Here it has been raining a
bunch. The only problem is that they have been working on the big road near
our house. So since in has been raining so much it caused the road to turn
into one gigantic mud pit. It made getting to the baptism and to church
intresting haha. How has the weather been there? No, we didn't have a
meeting on thursday? It sounds like yours was pretty awesome. I really
like the quote from Pres.
Bangerter. I will definetly use that in my teaching. Also i like the quote
by Pres Kimball that there would be less problems if people went to the
temple. HOw true is that? It would really help people to become better
peolple. That is great that PV beat DH. I'm sure everyone was estatic.
That is great that all of our football teams won too. That is crazy to
think CJ is going to be home in a few months. Sometimes i feel like i just
got here. haha. It seems like missionary life has become so normal it is
hard to think of life without it. Good thing i don't have to worry about
that for a while.
Also i found out that i can write letters to Shane eaisly because we are in the
same area.
I thought of you this week. We had a lesson with one of our amis who
progesses really well. But he told us that he doesn't believe in Tithing.
He told us that in his church they said that Christ abolished the law of the
tithes. But he is suppose to get baptized soon, so this week we talked
about tithing. At first he was a little hesitint. I even talked about how
you and mom were such great examples of full tithe payers. I talked about
how when you were first starting your business things weren't easy but you
kept paying your tithing. That seemed to really touch him. Also i kind of
stole your quote about how tithing brings us tons of spirtual blessing not
just temporal blessing. Then at the end, something suprising happened he
looked up at us and said lord, now i understand. He then explained how he
understood that the church has to pay for things to make the work advance
and that he understood that it was the members resbonsiblity to help with
that. It was pretty cool lesson.
Thanks dad. You know what is funny i have been thinking this week how
awesome my dad is. I love you too,
Elder Corey Kimzey
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